Black Iron Magician

Chapter 174 Showing Around the Mansion

Haruna was guided by a servant and arrived at the assigned room. Setting aside the arrangement, she seemed to have finished moving the furniture and other necessities with the help of some servants. It seems that the room was originally set up for guests, but this place alone is much larger than the private room of Deris’s house. Haruna’s sense is that of common people in this aspect, so she feels restless with this size and she’s thinking about what to do with the space that would be left over even if the furniture is placed.

「No matter how you think about it, this is a room for two people, right? It’s too big for me…」

「Gobu?」

Nell, who holds the position of the top of the military, has a mansion that’s wider than she expected, and she’s likely to get lost if she explores it carelessly. Setting aside the worry about the furniture, Haruna decided to try to remember at least the location of her room and its surroundings and decided to call out to the servant who is waiting outside her room.

「Harunaa!」

「Huh, Chinatsu-chan?」

Immediately before that, she looked in the direction of the voice that called her and saw Chinatsu approaching in a hurry.

「You looked like in a hurry, what’s wrong?」

「Haa… haa…. I heard that Haruna and Deris-san are moving today, so I finished my job early and came. You see, I want to help you move.」

「A-Aah… well, actually, there was no big job like that…」

「Eh?」

Blah blah blah.

「He brought the whole house…!?」

Chinatsu stepped back with a face that was half astonished and half exasperated. She was about to say ‘Is he stupid?’, but she swallowed the word because she was before his disciple, Haruna.

「Y-Yes, Shishō did his best and moved with the whole house.」

「I’m not sure if I have to call it unexpected or dynamic. Not only Shishō, but Deris-san also did something drastic… Then, there’s almost no work left, huh.」

「I guess so. I’m sorry for the trouble.」

「No, it’s just something I want to do, so don’t worry about it. Well then, I guess I will say hello to Deris-san. Hm?」

「About that… Shishō was being taken by Nell-san and now――」

「Haruna, you don’t have to say anymore. I somehow guessed it. From a while ago, a very dangerous bloodlust was leaking from Nell-shishō’s room.」

Chinatsu’s danger detection skill told her this: ‘if you don’t want to die, stay away’. As a priest, she at least prays for Deris’s safety. She can’t help him more than that, so her priority right now is to help Haruna. She gave up on Deris and decided to put it at the edge of her memory.

「That’s right! Since it’s a good opportunity, I’ll show you around the mansion! Looking at you before, you were about to ask the maid to show you around, right?」

「Eh, are you sure?」

「Leave it to me. This mansion is quite large, so you will get lost if you don’t know anything. There are also some dangerous places, so I’ll have you remember them today. Come on, you too, Gobuo-kun!」

「Gobu?」

「Wah!」

Chinatsu pushed Haruna and Gobuo’s back and they made their way to the inside of the mansion. The first thing Chinatsu led them to was the kitchen where three chefs were gathered. They greeted each of the chefs and then Chinatsu asked them to let Haruna use the kitchen. However, this kitchen is a meritocracy. The chefs seemed reluctant to let Haruna use their own workplace, the kitchen. However, they immediately gave their permission after they tasted the dishes prepared by Haruna to test her skill. She succeeded in winning over their stomachs and gained the right to cook in the mansion.

「Haruna-chan, please teach me the recipe for that dish next time!」

「Chinatsu-san, please open a temporary consultation room later!」

Incidentally, they gained a fan and a believer.

「Muu, why is it 『chan』 for me, but 『san』 for Chinatsu-chan?」

「Fufu, even though Haruna’s birthday is earlier than mine.」

The next stop is the large public bath. In this world, having a bath in the house itself is ridiculously luxurious. On top of that, the baths at Nell’s house are vast and luxurious as if they’re used by royalty. The baths are not flashy, but rather elegantly finished stone baths that give the impression of elegance. There’s even an open-air bath, which seems to have been carefully designed.

「Wow… Did Nell-san have them made for the mansion?」

「Yes. Shishō likes big baths after all. Deris-san also likes baths, right? Just between you and me, it seems that Shishō did a large-scale renovation on the premise that Deris-san would come. She even investigated his liking by her own and spent a lot of money.」

「……Chinatsu-chan, love is amazing, huh.」

「It’s amazing. But, being devoted like that is also Shishō’s nice point. Well, if you turn it over, it’ll end up like it’s now!」

「Ahaha, that’s not funny~」

―――― BAAAM!

Suddenly, an outrageous roar was heard from the direction of Nell’s room due to the explosion. Haruna and Chinatsu instantly turned pale while feeling the bloodlust that made their spine cold.

「Sorry, that wasn’t funny….」

「Uh, yeah. Let’s go to the next one….」

The next place is the underground training ground, which is one of the highlights of the mansion that rival the large public bath. As they descended the stairs to the basement, they found themselves in a space so spacious that it was hard to believe it was underground. Various tools for training, a shooting range like the one they saw at the Adelheit Magic Academy, and large space enough for a mock battle. They can feel the flow of magic power throughout the room that indicates the room has multiple layers of barriers, so it won’t be destroyed easily. However, there’s one thing that bothered Haruna.

「Why there are bloodstains here and there…?」

「V-Various things happened…」

Apparently, it’s best not to ask more than that.

「There’s a big door in the most inner part of the training ground, but it’s off-limits, so be careful.」

「That door?」

In a corner of the most inner part of the training ground stands an unusually large door. It’s a massive door made of steel that seems to be difficult to open.

「I’ve never gone inside, but there’s a rumor that there’s an atrocious monster that Shishō caught for her training. I was told not to go in there, so you mustn’t go in. From what Shishō said, even Deris-san has never entered.」

「An atrocious monster… Yep, I understand!」

「……Haruna, you really mustn’t enter, okay? It’s not a joke or anything, okay?」

「Ahaha, don’t worry~. You are a worrier, Chinatsu-chan~」

「………」

Haruna is basically a good girl who will listen to people’s warnings. Even in this case, it won’t change at all. However, what if she carelessly talked about it to Deris? Even if Haruna is okay, there’s a possibility that Deris would be interested. If that happens, Deris might try to look inside that door. If his crime were to be exposed, Nell’s anger at having her secret exposed would skyrocket, and Deris would die as a result.

(――I wonder if he’ll die. Yep, he might die. Well, it depends on what’s inside that door, but he might die. Let’s patch things up for Shishō and Deris-san later.)

Thinking that much in an instant, Chinatsu decided to help them so it won’t reach the worst case scenario.